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Last night as I was setting our clock radio, I caught these words from Dr. Dean Edell over WBAP Dallas/Ft. Worth. He was commenting on something the pope said about science, and made this statement (close to a quote, but maybe not exact) : science deals with things that are real, religion deals with faith. Let's think about this assertion.

First, science deals with things that are real. Leaving aside the fact that for a time science dealt with "ether" rather than a vacuum between planets and stars, he seems to imply that everything real can be dealt with by science. Really? Science can deal with what our senses can perceive directly or indirectly, and our minds comprehend and theorize about. But is that all there is? In other words, it is a statement of faith to believe that there is nothing real beyond what science can deal with. A challenge: prove, by scientific method, that there is nothing more than what science can deal with. Can't be done. A good scientist who understands the philosophy of science would not claim that all of reality can be comprehended by science.

Second, religion deals with faith. Yes it does. But, religions make truth claims. In so doing, religions make claims about reality. Now this reality may or may not concern things that science also can investigate, but nonetheless, statements are made as facts, not simply as opinions. And who said that science is the only allowable method of checking truth claims?

As for what the Pope said, I am not sure what Dr. Edell referred to. Perhaps some of the critiques of science made by Benedict XVI, the philospher-bishop, such as this from his 2007 encyclical In Hope (in extended section. Or, more probably this address.

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This story from Britain is now a bit old, but the issue will not go away.

Scientists are mixing human and animal DNA to produce hybrid organisms.

The government says that the scientific advantages of allowing the creation of hybrid embryos for research purposes could help millions of people to recover from illness or disease.

Religious leaders, however, have argued against the bill, with the leader of Catholics in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, using his Easter Sunday sermon to brand the bill a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life" which will allow experiments of "Frankenstein proportion".


I have expressed myself already on this issue here and here. Basically, I think that

One of the foundation stones of our culture has been the idea/belief that humans are unique. We hold ourselves to standards we do not apply to animals--a dog may be put down for killing a person, but will not be put on trial. A man may be charged with killing a dog, but it will not be a murder charge. We may protest the construction of a new dam on a river, but will not hold a protest at the site of a beaver dam. If while driving, the only two choices are hitting an animal, and having a head-on with another car, we run over the animal. If we are stranded with another person and a dog, and have only enough food for two persons, we feed the other person and let the dog starve, or eat it. And so on.

Animal-human hybrids raise profoundly disturbing questions. But, science has no mechanism within itself to consider whether or not something that can be done should be done. Science cannot ask or answer "should" questions. We must turn to philosophy and religion.